Preparing for the Holidays

I know Christmas will sneak up on me just as fast as it did last year, I'm just hoping to be more prepared for it this year! I had a Christmas in July Sale last month and was able to unload three items from my 2008 Christmas inventory. Soon I will be making new holiday items, which will seem like a big rush because I haven't really started working on my Autumn inventory!

On the subject of Autumn inventory, I will be participating in my first craft fair on September 26th - it is in Crandall Park in Glens Falls if you are local!!! Hopefully I'll get some sales and some business cards out there for some new Christmas shoppers.

More Holiday Items

I'm trying to get the rest of my holiday inventory online before it's too late. My problem is mostly weather and schedule related. My pictures come out best in natural sunlight, but there was only one day this week that the sun was still up and shining while I was home.

I've added two more decoupage pieces, a snowman and a two cent postage stamp of Santa. The snowman piece comes on a ball chain necklace. The Santa stamp necklace comes on a gold plated choker necklace wire.



My Garden Gnome necklace isn't exclusively a Christmas piece, but will go nicely with a red shirt. I got inspiration from the pendant which reminds me of a garden gnome hat for some reason. It was made using turquoise howlite beads and coral chips. Sterling silver wire was used to make the bail, and the clasp is a sterling silver hook and eye clasp.


Search my Etsy shop for the keyword Christmas for all my Christmas pieces, and some things that would go nicely with red or green.

Cyber Monday Madness

Why fight the crowds all "Black Weekend" when you can go back to work and use company time to shop online on Monday?

I'm having a Cyber Monday Sale in my shop from midnight December 1st (Cyber Monday) until 11:59 pm. I am offering free domestic shipping on all purchases during the sale, and 10% off orders of $25.00 or more. As an added bonus, I will be putting in a complimentary pair of Christmas Earrings in each package from now until Christmas Eve.

Adventures With Polymer Clay: What I Learned from the Polymer Clay Experiment

Making polymer clay beads is like toasting marshmallows. In the picture on the right, see how nice and white the beads are? Like marshmallows, they are very white as you push the skewer through them. Upon toasting, however, they turn a golden brownish yellow in color. White polymer clay behaves the same way. Yes, I went in thinking I'd have nice white polymer clay beads. They came out looking like bone chips. Oh well, round one was a complete let down. The final product picture is too hideous to share. The metal rack in the picture is a tool I highly recommend. It comes with metal pins that serve the purpose of putting holes through the center of your beads, but it also keeps the beads from flattening during the baking process. I placed the rack on a cookie sheet for ease of putting the baking rack in and taking it out of the oven.

Round two: Sparkling red and green clay swirled together to make round and long tube beads, as well as a Christmas tree pendant. I used my clay plunger tube to make square and round shapes with the silvery gray clay. Turns out Christmas trees are a really good first timer's pendant to make. The mistakes end up looking like pine needles. I recommend investing in some bead rollers, because there was great variation in the sizes of the beads I made. I recently purchased a bead roller (AMACO Professional System, Set 1) . Don't let the picture on the box fool you, it only makes two sizes of oblong beads, 1/2" and 5/8". The picture implies about 4 different shapes of beads, but I guess that's what the other sets are for! Nonetheless, I can't wait to use my new toy. The plunger makes different shapes with your clay, and it is great for creating uniformly shaped beads or shapes to decorate pendants with, however, it requires a great deal of hand muscle power, which I lack.

The final product:

I used the tree polymer clay pendant and beads to create this braided green wire Christmas necklace. You can see the full item description and price in my Etsy shop here:

Polymer Clay Christmas Tree Necklace

Like all of my other holiday items, it's on sale, buy one get one half off!

http://akeepersjackpot.etsy.com

I created my online store at Etsy on October 22, 2007. For now I am only designing beaded items, but home to expand in the future.

Currently I sell jewelry, lanyards, and bookmarks - all beaded.